Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Quick Synopsis: Alina Starkov finds out that she is a very special girl. She is forced to abandon the life she knew so well to be among some of the most prestigious people of the land of Ravka. But soon, she finds that her new-found status could be more dangerous than she ever thought.

Some spoilers ahead. Not too many?

I just want to start this off by saying: I fucking loved this book. I’m a huge Hunger Games fan and I’m just so excited that I’m just so drawn to another series. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t find a new series of books I’d genuinely love but so far, The Grisha Trilogy is giving the Hunger Games a run for its money.

The cover art and the inside map have got to be some of the most beautiful I’ve seen. Two thumbs up. But once you get past the great art, the action Bardugo writes is instantly compelling. I could not stop reading. There’s also this crazy sexy kissing scene between Alina and the Darkling and wow. It was a small part but written so well. I once tried to read a romance novel that had like 3 sex scenes in the first 20 pages, and this ONE kissing scene that Bardugo wrote was just infinitely more sensual and better written.

But back to the Hunger Games for a second though. I saw one…similarity between the two. Basically. The Darkling says that Alina is “the first glimmer of hope I’ve had in a long time” (145). It just reminded me of Katniss and how they basically made her a symbol of hope for the people. Like she was the spark they needed. There’s also like a typical love triangle between Alina, Mal, and the Darkling but it didn’t bother me so much.

Overall, this book. This book, man. It’s just, literally, one of my favorites.